Mikel Obi Relives the Experience of His Chelsea Unveiling in 2006

Mikel Obi Relives the Experience of His Chelsea Unveiling in 2006

  • John Obi Mikel played for Chelsea for 11 years and won every trophy possible at the club
  • The Blues fought a long battle against Manchester United to win the race for his signing
  • The former Super Eagles captain has shared the experience of his unveiling at Cobham

John Obi Mikel has relived the experiences of the day he was unveiled as a Chelsea player at Cobham after visiting the training facilities of his former club recently.

Mikel had a successful career at Chelsea, spending 11 years at the Premier League club and winning every trophy possible, including the 2012 UEFA Champions League.

Mikel Obi at a Chelsea press conference in 2006.
Mikel Obi addressing a Chelsea press conference in 2006. Photo by Ben Radford.
Source: Getty Images

The Blues fought a long battle against Manchester United to win the race to sign the highly-rated teenager after he starred at the 2005 FIFA I20 World Cup in the Netherlands.

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Mikel relives first day at Chelsea

The former Nigerian international, who left the club in 2017, returned to shoot an episode of his Obi One Podcast and shared the feelings of the day he was unveiled at the club.

“I stayed with that number,” he said of his number 12 jersey. “The memories of that day, it was a massive relief. It [transfer saga] was going on for about a year, I couldn't play for any club, Manchester United or Chelsea, because of the whole saga.
“After it was settled, it was a massive relief for me to join the club that I really wanted to play for, which was Chelsea. I just couldn't wait to be unveiled as a Chelsea player, my memory there was absolutely fantastic, I will never trade it for anything.”

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As noted by Transfermarkt, he played under nine managers, excluding interim bosses, before he left the club in 2017 after a spat with new manager Antonio Conte over his involvement with the national team.

Mikel slams Mykhailo Mudryk

Legit.ng reported that Mikel Obi slammed Mykhailo Mudryk after the Chelsea star had an underwhelming first full season at Stamford Bridge under Mauricio Pochettino.

The Nigerian pointed at the Ukrainian’s hairstyle and tattoo and told him to get them off, and it appeared that the former Shakhtar Donetsk winger had listened when he resumed pre-season.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
Elijah Odetokun avatar

Elijah Odetokun (Sports Editor) Elijah Odetokun is a Nigerian sports editor at Legit NG. He has four years of working experience having previously worked at Daily Times Nigeria (August 2020 - September 2020), OmaSports (December 2020 - June 2021), El Futbolero (July 2021; September 2021- November 2021), and Sports Brief (November 2022 - July 2024). He is a press conference and interview specialist and has attended trainings held by Reuters, AIPS, and FIJ. He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture (2021) from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta. Reach me via elijah.odetokun@sportsbrief.com